Bridging Learning Content to Technical Data

The Office of the Secretary of Defense is funding an S1000D-SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) Harmonization Project to determine how information products and training and education products can be updated and distributed more efficiently. The project is developing a bridge specification to integrate any SCORM-based learning content development tool into any S1000D common source database (CSDB). The project’s efforts will benefit defense/industry teams around the globe. Accordingly, project members represent U.S. and European defense organizations and industry.

S1000D is a technical data specification that unites technical organizations with instructional developers through the power of XML. Creating a bridge between S1000D and SCORM will reduce total ownership costs and enable integration of business processes between authoring environments and CSDBs.

Motivating Data Interoperability

The goal of educating and training in rapidly changing technical environments requires information products to be updated and distributed efficiently to the right people at the right time. Organizational practices that historically delayed training content production until after products and systems are deployed must now share common business processes and infrastructure, such as data acquisition, production, management and delivery. With the release of the S1000D Technical Data Specification Issue 4.0, this is now possible. The Issue 4.0 release of S1000D supports the neutral expression of learning data that directly ties content to products and components. S1000D is an ideal part of a data readiness solution because it:

• is adopted widely across programs and countries;
• uses XML, which is neutral, nonproprietary and portable;
• supports data interchange between programs and vendors; and
• ties data modules to a system component using a unique set of codes.

Getting Data Interoperability Right

Data neutrality supports the development of learning content with links to maintenance and operational requirements that also help enable direct and automated data reuse. Automating notification of learning content developers about product design changes that affect learning content results in significant efficiencies. Linking neutral formats and product components means engineering changes in weapons platforms, weapons systems and other equipment can directly flow into learning content products. Such efficiencies should derive from interoperability principles: a common communication specification between learning content development environments, S1000D CSDB environments and SCORM packaging tools.

Training as Logistics Element

Achieving the aforementioned efficiencies requires a new strategic vision of technical publications and training products within an integrated logistics support (ILS) context. Tactical problem statements define the obstacles to achieving the strategic vision through an interoperability-based bridge.

The project’s strategic vision statement, “to ensure learning data and technical publication data are developed and maintained based on consistent ILS data,” provides additional insight into our efforts.

The OSD bridge specification project is trying to ensure that all source data for technical publications and training products are developed in a common environment and maintained using consistent ILS standards. ILS involves any activity that supports a product or system, other than actual use of the product, and includes all data used for performance support and training purposes.

Logistical practices include:

• acquisition;
• storage;
• delivery;
• change management;
• customer support;
• redesign processes;
• sustainability; and
• installation and disposal.

As groups producing technical publications and training products operate within an ILS environment, a CSDB will receive input from disparate production systems through a common data exchange, as illustrated in the schematic. To achieve this vision, exchange packages must be defined, and the work must be founded on internationally agreed upon ILS standards, such as those provided by the product life cycle support (PLCS) standard (ISO 10303-239).

The application programming bridge (API) in this project focuses on the data exchange between learning content authoring environments and CSDBs during learning information for use in SCORM-compliant training products. Future projects will focus on data exchange between CSDBs and learning management systems (LMS).

Tactical Problem Statements

Our project has two tactical problem statements:

1. Vendor-neutral communication protocols do not exist between content development tools and CSDBs, which would facilitate the life cycle support of S1000D technical content for learning.
2. There are no vendor neutral tools in place to validate SCORM 2004 compliance at the end of the publishing process.

Tactical problem statement 1 identifies the inefficiencies in the edit cycle (left in the schematic), and tactical problem statement 2 identifies those in the publish cycle (right in the schematic).

The API bridge will offer functional improvements to the development of learning content that must be configured with and based on authoritative source information. The schematic identifies the two main focus areas in dashed circles. The circled area in the edit column corresponds to tactical problem statement number one. The circled area in the publish column corresponds to tactical problem statement number two.

The problem statements focus attention in two content production areas within a larger ILS environment. Use cases that define the problem spaces articulate the scenarios that the S1000D-SCORM API bridge will address.

Building Data Interoperability

To derive functional requirements for the specification, the project considered various scenarios in which learning content developers in an authoring environment would interact with a CSDB to create, store and maintain S1000D-compliant learning content that may be packaged in compliance with SCORM. Seven use cases describe the sequences of likely interactions.

•  Authenticate With CSDB: Authoring environment gains access to and has permissions handled by CSDB environment.
• Create CSDB Object: User instantiates a new CSDB object inside the CSDB environment using the authoring environment.
• Create New Issue of CSDB Object: User creates a new issue of an existing issued object inside the CSDB from the authoring environment for the purpose of starting modifications for the next issue cycle of the object.
• Modify CSDB Object: User modifies a CSDB object (including its metadata) inside the CSDB using the authoring environment.
• Delete CSDB Object: User physically or non-physically deletes CSDB object from CSDB using the authoring environment.
• Modify Quality Assurance (QA) Status of CSDB Object: User modifies QA status of CSDB object in CSDB using the authoring environment.
• Package for SCORM: SCORM compiler creates a SCORM-compliant content package based on resources contained in CSDB.

Analysis as ILS Requirement

New learning content support in S1000D Issue 4.0 enables the communication bridge to integrate SCORM-based learning content authoring environments with S1000D CSDB environments. The specification also supports the compilation of SCORM content packages in S1000D CSDB environments using vendor-independent mechanisms. Links between engineering and training are now possible.

With the API between SCORM and S1000D applications, links between task analysis, learning objectives and human performance skills in an ever-changing product support environment are finally possible. Interoperability and cost-of-ownership reduction may now be enhanced by a controlled and automated provision of valid and accurate data. It also lays the groundwork for future specifications and interoperability solutions that will combine aspects of SCORM’s distribution model with S1000D’s data model. The two combined could present a never-before-seen capability that unites the controlled content movement and playback with the explicit version and configuration control required to maintain information readiness. ♦

Editor’s Note: Wayne Gafford is director, ADL Job Performance Technology Center, Alexandria, Va., Gafford may be contacted at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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